[EL] re “Federal investigators focus on small campaign donations to L.A. Councilwoman Nury Martinez”

[Larry Levine]

The issue here seems to be whether some of these people may not actually have contributed. A local ordinance requires a candidate to collect 200 contributions of at least $5 from people living within the city council district to become eligible for matching public funds for the campaign. The inference from the L.A. Times article, though I don’t see an express accusation, is that some of those contributions may have been faked – people listed who never contributed. One of the many problems with this is that some, if not many, people might not even recall having made such a small contribution. 

On another front, this ordinance is driving campaign fundraisers and treasurers crazy. For a $5 contribution they may have to spend hours verifying that the donor actually lives in the district and providing proof to the city ethics commission. And if someone who lives in the district writes a check from the account of a business that is out of the district the problem of time and expense in verification is compounded. 

Then there is the matter of the vast disparity in the economic levels of people living in various council districts. $5 to someone in the wealthier districts is far different than $5 from someone in the poorer districts. Of all the crazy campaign reforms that have been foisted on our political system across than nation this one would be a leading competitor for the title of the craziest.

Larry Levine

 

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Lillie Coney
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2016 9:35 PM
To: David A. Holtzman <David at HoltzmanLaw.com>
Cc: [EL] <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] re “Federal investigators focus on small campaign donations to L.A. Councilwoman Nury Martinez”

 

If campaign contributions are viewed as speech then smaller donor speech in the form of contributions has the same protection as large dollar donors.

 

What are the rules for what donors can get in exchange for contribution? In recent elections donors contributing to campaign fundraising drives are offered opportunities to be in lotteries to win time with the candidate.  

 

These are putting in to the small donor arena activity that large donors routinely experience and expect.

 



Sent from my iPhone


On Jan 22, 2016, at 3:55 PM, David A. Holtzman <David at HoltzmanLaw.com <mailto:David at holtzmanlaw.com> > wrote:

My favorite quote in here:  "My money is my money, and I can do whatever I want with my money"
Prompts a question: Can the FBI ask *any* reported campaign donor why she gave money?  (Or do they have to have a reasonable suspicion the donor got something in return?)
And a question about honesty in reporting: Can a campaign accept and report lots of donations (to boost its apparent support) with a promise to (wink, wink) return them if the campaign doesn't spend the money?






 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79207> “Federal investigators focus on small campaign donations to L.A. Councilwoman Nury Martinez”


Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79207> January 22, 2016 8:42 am by  <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen

Alleged fraud in securing $5 donations to qualify for campaign financing.  <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-martinez-donors-grand-jury-20160122-story.html> Unusual.





-- 
David A. Holtzman, M.P.H., J.D.
david at holtzmanlaw.com <mailto:david at holtzmanlaw.com>  

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